"A
mediocre thriller
that seems
to be made just for a video release..."

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

A mediocre thriller that seems to be made just for a
video
release
and not for the theater. It's entertaining in a
limited way, as it
plays
like a conventional crime TV series drama. But it
unfortunately gets
bogged
down with a clichéd alcoholic and despondent
detective as its
star,
a predictable and uninviting formula serial killer
story, and plot
devices
that are unbelievable. But what really brings this
film down, is its
ludicrous
ending. It can best be viewed as a bad film that can
be enjoyed for how
bad it is.

Mickey Hayden (Sutherland) is a veteran burned-out
detective; he
is constantly drunk because his wife left him for his
slimy boss, Lt.
John
Hatter (Hudson). While off-duty, he chases a
shoplifter and in his
pursuit
he takes a fall. This triggers in him the ability to
experience psychic
reactions, as he starts seeing things about the crime;
and, he also
notices
by touching an article of clothing, that's part of the
crime, he could
be stimulated to see even more. At first skeptical of
this ESP, he
learns
how to deal with it as the story progresses.

Drinking in a gay bar, because he wants to suffer
alone,
Mickey meets
an eccentric psychic, Harvey (Czerny), who
familiarizes the angry,
self-hating
detective with his newly acquired ability. Harvey
tells Mickey--I see
things,
too. When the newspapers start pushing a serial killer
story in their
headlines
and Mickey's assigned the case, he gets the help
through Harvey of a
para-psychology
professor, Vera Swann (Walker).

To the drunk detective's surprise, he's put in
charge of
this glamorous
case by the boss who hates him. It doesn't make sense
at present, but
by
the time this predictable story winds down it becomes
evident why
Mickey
was given the case over more capable detectives.

The serial killer who is known as Jabberwocky,
leaves
signed notes
on his dead vics. Newspaperman Tom Ellison receives
warnings from the
killer
when he'll strike again. Tom goes to meet Jabberwocky
after one such
warning
note. But he disappears. After a series of gruesome
and unconnected
killings,
all with the trade mark of Jabberwocky, Mickey is able
to see things
that
took place ten years earlier in the death of Alice
Lurie in a house
owned
by Magaret Ellison, the newspaper publisher and sister
of Tom. He says
that's when the serial killer started. Hatter is so
upset that he's
pursuing
that angle, that he takes him off the case; but, this
seems to be
forgotten
since Mickey just continues working the case without
any repercussions.

The middle part of the film takes its sweet time
developing, as it
shows many suspects as possibly being the serial
killer. The only
action
shots are of Kiefer seeing the brutal crimes being
committed in his
mind.

It's all very forgettable stuff, as the actors are
going
through
the motions of acting and the lame script fails to
develop anything
interesting
to say about the psychic policeman.